Posts Tagged ‘stuttering’

No, I’m not talking about the house, though the word does fit it, LOL. I’m talking about Kiddo’s speech. I finally have a word for what she does! It is called Cluttering.

Let me back up a minute. Kiddo had a speech evaluation on Friday. I had mentioned some issues with articulation, and possibly a language disorder. It seems that Kiddo has a hard time coming up with the right word, or the right way to say a phrase. I didn’t know what the problem was, but I did know that eating dinner with her can be almost painful. It can take forever for her to figure out how to say something, and to actually get it out (talking all the while).

The speech therapist gave her some tests, including a language test. The first test showed some problems with a few sounds. We have therapy set up to deal with that. Then, the therapist gave Kiddo a language test. I don’t have the results of the test yet, but let’s just say that there were no language problems. At one point the therapist looked at me and said, “I’ve never gotten this far in this test before.” It was the kind of test that you keep giving questions until the child misses a certain number.

The therapist talked a bit about stuttering, maybe whole word stuttering (although sometimes she repeats parts of words), but Kiddo shows no stress in getting the words out. She doesn’t even realize that she is repeating, /starting over / whatever you want to call it. The therapist mentioned something called “cluttering,” but she didn’t know much about it (she said that she was going to look into it).

After the appointment, I came home and looked up cluttering (that’s what the internet is for, right?) and was blown away. The symptom lists that I came up with fit Kiddo perfectly. Well… no, that is not right. All of Kiddo’s symptoms can be explained by cluttering, but she does not have them all.

Cluttering is often described as “mild stuttering,” but there are some very real differences. A stutterer is very aware of the problem and often tenses their muscles when trying to get a word out. A clutterer has no idea that there is anything wrong with the way that they talk. A stutterer will speak better when relaxed, but a clutterer will get worse when they are relaxed. (The first few sentences out of Kiddo’s mouth at the therapist’s office were fine!)

I should get the therapist’s report sometime this week, it will be interesting to see if she came to the same conclusion that I did. Either way, it will be interesting to see if there is any therapy that can help Kiddo (there is supposed to be).